Chaos

Version 0.31: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

Each time it hits an enemy, it has a different, random effect.

Chaos is a brand that weapons may have. Each attack produces a random effect, many of which imitate other brands.

Possible effects

Chaos-branded attacks randomly choose a useful effect from the following list. For example, the flaming brand cannot be chosen if the defender is fire-immune, and vampiricism cannot be chosen if the attacker is at full health. If a useless effect is chosen, it is re-rolled. These effects do not check willpower.

Effect	Probability	Effect	Probability	Effect	Probability
Brands		Good special effects		Potentially dangerous special effects
Flaming	13.7%	Confuse	1.96%	Might	1.96%
Freezing	13.7%	Slow	1.63%	Haste	1.96%
Electrocution	13.7%	Weaken	1.63%	Resistance**	1.63%
Venom	13.7%	Halve willpower	1.63%	Frenzy	0.82%
Draining	6.85%	Vitrify	0.82%	Blink	0.82%
Vampiricism	6.85%	Corrode	0.82%	Polymorph	0.49%
Holy wrath	6.85%	Sleep	0.49%	Create hostile clone	0.11%
Antimagic	6.85%	Paralyse for 1 turn	0.49%
Special effects	17.8%	Petrify	0.49%
		Ensnare in a web*	0.49%
		Create allied or neutral clone***	0.05%

*Can be chosen even if the defender is immune to webs.
**Cannot be chosen if the defender is immune to any of fire, cold, electricity, poison, or acid.
***Equal chance of allied or neutral.

Overall, there is an 82.2% chance to pick a damaging brand, vampiricism, or antimagic. There's a 10.5% chance of a good special effect, and a 7.3% chance of a potentially dangerous special effect.

Additionally, each strike with the chaos brand has a 1% chance to apply the reaping effect to its damage. This may result in raising slain enemies as allied zombies, depending on the total reaping damage.

Gods will disapprove of any effects you might call that offend them (evil effects for the good gods, haste for Cheibriados). Zin abhors chaos, regardless of its effect.

Occurrence

Chaos is a rare brand from a scroll of brand weapon; this is the only way for ranged weapons to receive this brand. Chaos weapons may be gifted by Xom (though not necessarily to the player), and various Xom altar vaults have chaotic weapons. Crazy Yiuf always wields a quarterstaff of chaos, and Psyche often has a dagger of chaos.

Strategy

Chaos is a fickle mistress. As a player brand, it can slow or petrify your enemies, or it can haste or frenzy them. Early game characters will struggle to handle the negative effects, if and when they occur. And regardless of progress, a more reliable brand is recommended. Chaos may have some niche use in longer battles. But if you use a chaos weapon for an extended period of time, the chances of a bad effect are high.

Monster with chaos, in turn, may put you to sleep or briefly paralyse you, leading to potentially fatal situations. Great care should be taken against enemy chaos weapons.

History

• Prior to 0.31, distortion was a possible brand choice for chaos, meaning that chaos attacks could cause banishment. Chaos-inflicted paralysis could last multiple turns, and confusion checked willpower. Weakness, corrosion, vulnerability, vitrification, sleep, and ensnaring were not possible, whereas chaos attacks could turn monsters into shapeshifters or grant agility. Berserk was replaced with frenzy in the list of effects in this version.
• Prior to 0.30, chaos attacks could make the target invisible instead of giving resistance to elements.
• Prior to 0.25, chaos could inflict random miscast effects instead of the might and agility effects.
• Prior to 0.20, there was a rare chance of healing the target.
• Prior to 0.19, invalid effects could still be rolled with reduced probability.
• Prior to 0.18, ranged weapon ammo could have brands, including the chaos brand.
• Between 0.16 and 0.18, the chaos brand could move nearby stairs.
• Prior to 0.14, weapons of chaos could shaft or polymorph the attacker. Also, gods would forgive the player for disliked effects produced by chaos effects.